From a photograph by Solomon D. Butcher of four daughters of rancher Joseph M. Chrisman, at their sod house in Custer County, Nebraska. From left to right, Harriet, Elizabeth, Lucie, and Ruth. Photographed in 1886.

Saturday, January 05, 2013

Books To Keep

Sorting through the juvenile fiction

We have come to the point in our house where we need another bookcase -- or fewer books. Unless I happen to find a cheap, good-quality, used bookcase, I always feel morally obligated to build one. So I decided to spare myself that task (and the challenge of finding a place in the house for another bookcase, once built.)

I sorted through most of our juvenile fiction, discarding duplicate titles, lesser works, extremely worn books, etc., and now I have a large, very heavy box of kid books sitting on the kitchen floor, waiting to go to the Salvation Army thrift shop.

But before I take it, I will let both Keely and Isaac see if they want to keep anything from it. These are books that accumulated during their childhood years.

I also made a list of the books I decided to keep. I have quite a habit of looking through any used books I find. If I have a list with me on my tablet as I'm looking, at least maybe I won't buy a duplicate book.

Here are the keepers. Note: this is not a list of all the great books I think kids should read. It's just a list of what's on my bookshelves tonight. I notice a sad deficiency in Mary Poppins and Little House books. Keely says that's because she and Isaac wore them out so thoroughly when they were kids. Also, no Little Women!

Well, I can't own them all. Not without more bookcases...

Allen, Philip Schuyler: King Arthur and His Knights, A Noble and Joyous History

Bowman, James Cloyd: Pecos Bill

Cameron, Eleanor: Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet

Cleary, Beverly: Beezus and Ramona

Colder, Soon: Artemis Fowl

Dahl, Ronald: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Dahl, Ronald: James and the Giant Peach

Dodge, Mary Mapes: Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates

Estes, Eleanor: The Middle Moffat

Estes, Eleanor: The Moffats

Forbes, Esther: Johnny Tremain

Graham, Kenneth: The Wind in the Willows

Hale, Shannon: The Princess Academy

Krumgold, Joseph: Onion John

L'Engle, Madeleine: A Swiftly Tilting Planet

L'Engle, Madeleine: A Wind in the Door

L'Engle, Madeleine: A Wrinkle in Time

Lawson, Robert: Rabbit Hill

Lear, Edward: Nonsense Book

Lofting, Hugh: Doctor Doolittle

Lovelace, Maud: Betsy and Tacy

Lovelace, Maud: Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill

Maclachlan, Patricia: Sarah, Plain and Tall

McCloskey, Roberta: Henry Reed, Inc.

McCormick, Dell J.: Paul Bunyan Swings His Ax

Neville, Emily: It's Like This, Cat

Norton, Mary: The Borrowers

Norton, Mary: The Borrowers Afloat

Norton, Mary: The Borrowers Aloft

O'Brien, Robert C.: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh

O'Dell, Scott: Island of the Blue Dolphins

Paterson, Katherine: Bridge to Terabithia

Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan: The Yearling

Rawls, Wilson: Where the Red Fern Grows

Sachar, Louis: Holes

Sachar, Louis: Wayside School is Falling Down

Sachar, Louis: Sideways Stories from Wayside School

Sachar, Louis: Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger

Scott, Dr. Jonathan (translator): The Arabian Nights Entertainments

Sewell, Anna: Black Beauty

Shelley, Mary: Frankenstein

Spyri, Johanna: Heidi

Stevenson, Robert Louis: Treasure Island

Twain, Mark: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Twain, Mark: Tom Sawyer

Verne, Jules: Around the World In Eighty Days

Verne, Jules: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Wells, H. G.: The Island of Dr. Moreau

Wells,H. G.: The Time Machine

White, E. B.: Stuart Little

White, E. B.: The Trumpet of the Swans

Wyss, Johann Rudolf: The Swiss Family Robinson

I have been typing this on the Nexus tablet that the family gave me for Christmas. Now I am going to attempt to take a photo with this little machine and add it to this post. After the post reaches the internet, I guess I will have to edit it with my desktop computer, so I can italicize the titles. I'm not seeing how to do that with the Blogger app I'm using. (And that's what I did.)

7 comments:

kfhilf.blogspot.com
said...

The photo turned out nice! __My email feed showed a stacked titled list... which was much easier for me, to slide right down :)__I know your going to wear out the keys on your new wonder,,, as I did with my gift Blackberry :) __&Pleased to learned about your families smart gift! __cyaSoon, kfH

May I offer another suggestion to you? If there's a shelter or home for women and children near you, they would be thrilled to get those books. They never have enough reading material for the children who are there.

Secondly, I would like to add to your list of books. Being a retired 5th grade teacher, I always insisted my students read Newbery novels. I don't know if you're familiar with the award or not, but each year, ONE novel is selected to be the best written literature of the year. There are honor awards as well which are the runner up books. All of those are quality literature. I don't always agree with the appropriateness of the topics, sometimes they're a little liberal for my taste, but they are usually well written. You have many Newbery books listed.

And of course, the classics of children's literature. I LOVED the Anne of Green Gables series we discovered when my older daughter was a 4th grader. We read through them all voraciously!!! You also have many of my favorite classics like The Yearling!

When I was teaching, I tried very hard to find a Newbery historical novel to reinforce our Social Studies content. It made that period of history so human for my kiddos. For example, My Brother Sam is Dead, is a Revolutionary War novel that's excellent. Sarah Bishop is another of that same time period. We also tried to incorporate arts and humanities into our studies, so when we were studying the Revolutionary War, we were also studying the music and famous artworks of that period.

Kenneth, I was a little concerned about that photo because the preview it showed me was reversed. All the letters on the books were backwards. But when posted, it reversed itself. I love the Nexus and it opens a whole new world of technology to me -- a bit of a learning curve, but I am enjoying it.

Karen, wonderful idea about the women's shelter. I will check into that. Yes, I do know about the Newberry awards, and have enjoyed many of the Newberry books over the years. I agree with your analysis: well-written books, but some of them are somewhat edgy in subject matter.

Books from my childhood that I read aloud to our children were the series _My Father's Dragon_, (I'm blanking on the 2nd one,) and _The Dragons of Blueland._ Enormously fun, with charming illustrations. Also: _Caddie Woodlawn_, _Charlotte's Web_ (you have other EBWhite novels listed) and Fred Gipson's classic, _Old Yeller._(I also read these aloud to my HS special ed class. They loved them.)

IT IS STILL BEST to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasure; and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong.(Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1867-1957)